1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal panel and liquid crystal apparatus having superior contrast characteristics.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as an LCD) displays characters and images, using the electrooptical characteristics of liquid crystal molecules. The LCD generally uses a liquid crystal panel in which polarizing plates are placed on both sides of a liquid crystal cell, and can display a black image under no voltage application in a normally black mode, for example. The LCD has a problem in that a contrast ratio in front and oblique directions is low. In order to solve this problem, a liquid crystal panel using a retardation film has been disclosed (for example, see JP 3648240).
Further, as an LCD having a high front contrast ratio, a VA-mode liquid crystal display apparatus is known for the following reason. In the VA-mode liquid crystal display apparatus, liquid crystal molecules are aligned substantially vertical with respect to a substrate surface under no voltage application, and hence, the influence of inhibiting a black display is small, which enables to further darken the black display.
The further increase in performance of the LCD is desired on the market, and as one example, there is a demand for a liquid crystal display apparatus exhibiting a higher front contrast ratio, capable of outputting characters and images clearly. However, there exists a problem that a degree of polarization of a polarizing plate is insufficient and therefore it is difficult to obtain a liquid crystal display apparatus having a higher contrast ratio.